Read it Again: Week of March 21, 2002

80 years ago this week. A “small fire of distrust, suspicion and jealously within the various farm organizations, particularly in Mahoning and Columbiana counties, smoldered just long enough to generate a little too much heat…” Murray Lincoln, executive secretary of the Ohio Farm Bureau, and W.G. Vandenbark, secretary of the Ohio State Grange, traveled to Salem to preside over a “rather lively and at times somewhat stormy, but finally friendly conference.” The conflict stemmed from cooperative buying of fertilizers and other commodities.

In the Chicago market, top pigs were $10.50, but the bulk of sales were at $9.85 to $10.35. medium and good beef steers were $7.15 to $7.85. The grain market declined, with closing prices in Chicago at $1.32 for No. 2 red winter wheat and $1.30 for No. 2 hard winter. No. 2 mixed corn was 56 cents.

50 years ago this week. The dairy herd owned by Howard Bros. of Bainbridge was high in Geauga County for February, according to the Dairy Herd Improvement Association. The herd of 36 Holsteins produced 1440 pounds of milk and 53.9 pounds of butterfat per cow. Other herds in the top ten were Lester Yoder of Burton; Lawrence Brininger, Burton; A.R. Byler, Middlefield; Mahlon Yoder, Clairdon; Jerry MacMillan, Hudson; Frances Ginn, Russell; and Charles Garrett of Madison.

25 years ago this week. The meat industry has challenged recommendations for dietary goals for the United States prepared by the staff of the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs for the U.S. Senate. Among the dietary recommendations of the committee is one calling for a reduction in the consumption of red meat product.

“The recommendations should serve as a warning to the red meat industry that we must intensify our research and education efforts so that consumers may become more aware of the value of the consumption of red meat products. Misinformation such as that published by the committee, whose recommendations resulted from information supplied by anti-red meat organizations, potentially can destroy the very industry which has made the United States the best fed nation in the world,” said Dwaine Demmitt, chairman of the Ohio Beef Marketing program.

The committee, after establishing its dietary goals, which included a reduction in cholesterol and saturated fat intake, followed with its recommendation for a decrease in red meat consumption and an increase in the consumption of poultry and fish.